COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Illinois State men's golf team closed play at the Missouri Tiger Invitational, finishing in fourth place in the strong field, while shooting under par as a team in each of the three rounds of the tournament, shooting a season-tournament low of 846, 18 strokes under par.
In the tournament, four of ISU's five golfers carded overall tournament scores under par, led by Joel Durnford who's -8 saw him place eighth in the strong field, which played on the par-72, 7,221-yard The Club at Old Hawthorne course in Columbia, Missouri.
"While we didn't get the start today that we had hoped for, the guys finished well to cap off a solid team performance," said ISU head coach Ray Kralis. "Both Joel Durnford and Dave Perkins gave us three rounds that were under par, and Trent Wallace was at par or better throughout. The weather conditions were good, making it hard to create much separation, so I feel like we took another step forward by finishing just one shot out of the top three with a total of 18 strokes under par."
Illinois State's three-round total of 846 was better than any school outside of the Big 12 conference, as 35th-ranked TCU won the event with an 824 (-40) as Kansas State (831; -33) and host Missouri (845; -19) finished just ahead of the Redbirds. Oral Roberts (848; -16) rounded out the top five in the field while Missouri Valley Conference foes Southern Illinois (851; -3), Missouri State (859; -5), and Drake (883; +19) placed seventh, eighth, and 12th, respectively.
Pacing the strong Redbird squad on the third and final round was Wallace, who finished two strokes under par with six birdies over the final 18 holes, giving him 15 birdies for the round and -1 over the three rounds which tied him for 26th in the 78-person field.
Durnford, who ended the tournament with a team-best placing of eighth in the field closed out his tournament with a one-under 71 on the day, including five birdies in the effort. Perkins also finished a stroke under par and had a consistent day with 15 pars and two birdies over the final 18 holes.
Both Dan Anfield and David Rauer finished at two strokes over par on the round, tying for the team's fourth and final scorer. Anfield – who ended the three rounds at -1 and tied for 31st overall – had two birdies and four bogeys in the final round. Rauer had four birdies and eight pars over his final round, closing the tournament at eight strokes over par and tied for 58th in the Invitational field.
The team returns to action next weekend when the squad travels to West Lafayette, Indiana, to compete in the Boilermaker Invitational on April 13 and 14 on the Kampen Course.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App:Â Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
